BP denies that soliciting ideas for spill is 'stunt'

NEW ORLEANS - A suggestion box or publicity stunt? BP has
received thousands of ideas from the public on how to stop a blown
oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, but some inventors are complaining
that their efforts are ignored.

Oil-eating bacteria, bombs and a device that resembles a giant
shower curtain are among the 10,000 fixes people have proposed to
counter the growing environmental threat.

BP is taking a closer look at 700 of the ideas, but the oil
company has yet to use any of them, nearly a month after the deadly
explosion that caused the leak.

"They're clearly out of ideas, and there's a whole world of
people willing to do this free of charge," said Dwayne Spradlin,
CEO of InnoCentive Inc., which has created an online network of
experts to solve problems.

BP spokesman Mark Salt said the company wants the public's help,
but that considering proposed fixes takes time.

"They're taking bits of ideas from lots of places," Salt said.
"This is not just a PR stunt."

BP said Wednesday it hopes to begin shooting a mixture known as
drilling mud into the blown-out well in the gulf by Sunday.

The "top kill" method involves shooting heavy mud into crippled
equipment on top of the well, then aiming cement at the well to
permanently keep down the oil. Even if it works, it could take
several weeks to complete.

"This is all being done at a depth of 5,000 feet, and it's never
been done at these depths before," said Doug Suttles of BP, which
leased the rig that exploded April 20 off the coast of
Louisiana.

If the top kill effort fails, BP is considering a "junk shot,"
which involves shooting knotted rope, pieces of tires and golf
balls into the blowout preventer. Crews hope they will lodge into
the nooks and crannies of the device to plug it.

Costner vacuum

About 70 BP workers are taking more suggestions at a tip line
center in Houston. The company plans to test one idea from actor
Kevin Costner - a centrifuge device to vacuum up the oil - but that
was not delivered through the suggestion-box system.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists said
a small portion of the oil slick from the blown-out well has
reached a powerful current that could take it to Florida. They said
diluted oil could appear in isolated locations in Florida if
persistent winds push the current toward it, but that oil also
could evaporate before reaching the coast.

In Louisiana, a chocolate-brown blanket of oil about as thick as
latex paint has invaded reedy freshwater wetlands at the state's
southeastern tip.

BP succeeded in partially siphoning away the leak over the
weekend, when it hooked up a mile-long tube to the broken pipe,
sending some of the oil to a ship on the surface.

Gerald Graham, a Canadian marine environmental consultant, said
he suggested a similar idea at the end of April, but never heard
back.

Salt said ideas for stopping the mile-deep leak "have to be
taken through loads of different stages" before BP can try to use
them.

Spradlin, the InnoCentive CEO, denounced BP's call for help as a
"publicity maneuver." His Massachusetts-based company challenged
its Web-connected network of scientists, engineers, academics and
other professionals to come up with possible solutions to stop the
spill. Hundreds of ideas have poured in, but InnoCentive says BP
has not responded.

Ideas submitted through InnoCentive include spreading oil-eating
bacteria and dropping bombs to implode the leaking well.

Even the director of the Environmental Protection Agency's Gulf
of Mexico Program Office is waiting to see if his idea will get
used. Bryon O. Griffith worked in his spare time to develop an
umbrella-style plug that could be deployed inside the damaged pipe,
an idea that has been placed on a short list for consideration.

60,000 calls

BP has fielded about 60,000 calls from the public that led to
10,000 tips. About 2,500 people sent in forms spelling out their
ideas in greater detail, and BP advanced 700 to the next phase.

Costner has invested more than $24 million in developing the
centrifuge invention, along with business partner John Houghtaling
II of New Orleans. On Tuesday, Houghtaling said BP had agreed to
test the devices, which can be dropped into the oil spill and
separate water from oil, storing the petroleum in tanks. The
smallest weighs 150 pounds; the largest 4,500 pounds.

It's not just BP that's been receiving ideas.

"You name it, it's been suggested. At least 15 times a day we
get something about exploding the well - bombs, nuclear bombs,
torpedoes," said Coast Guard Senior Chief Petty Officer Steve
Carleton, who helps handle the flood of responses. He said he
receives about a dozen e-mails a day with a link to a YouTube video
of a man using hay to sop up oil.

"There's so many ideas you become numb to them," he said.

Bill Walker, director of Mississippi's Department of Marine
Resources, said he believes BP is properly considering each
proposal.

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